Lorenz

• Lorenz studied imprinting in Geese
• Lorenz found Geese automatically 'attach' to the first moving thing they see after hatching and follow it everywhere
• Lorenz imprinting study

  1. Divided goose eggs into 2 groups, 1 with mother and 1 with incubator
  2. Observed goslings from incubator followed lorenz in same way gosling from other groups would follow their mother
  3. Put sets of goslings together and observed that when they were released, the two groups re-formed quickly and gosling went to their imprinter
• Lorenz further experiments findings:

  1. Imprinting to occur after 13 and 16 hours most likely
  2. Imprinting occurs during critical period
  3. After critical period it is too late to imprinting
• Why aren't Lorenz findings likely to apply to humans

  • Attachments take longer to develop
  • Don't automatically attach to things
  • Quality of care is important